Christmas Fun Q & A!

My friend Carmine did this on her blog and I loved it, so I had to follow suit...

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Um, why not both? I'm not one to leave somebody out... I say both, and if you can, why not MIX them... egg noggy hot cocoa? Sure!!!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Most definitely wraps them. Most definitely. Unwrapped gifts just do not cut it. ;)

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Colored lights on the tree, and just white candles in the windows of the house

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
We don't have any! I need to get some. My mum and dad always had some (fake) hanging in our house growing up... gotta get me some to hang!

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving, but sometimes the tree doesn't go up for another week or so... this week, no tree for us because it's just too much work with the impending arrival of Baby Willi! We'll plug in our little 3-foot tree instead.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
I love Christmas cookies, mulled (ie, spiked, okay maybe not this year) warm apple cider, and soft peppermint candies. Mmm.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
We had a lot of tradition in our Christmas growing up... all of them are fond memories... from the Kelley Family Christmas (fondly referred to as KFC) the weekend before Christmas, to Christmas Eve at the Boyd's and Tracy's homes followed by midnight mass, to the obligatory pajama pictures as we came down the stairs Christmas morning to discover the loot that Santa left... then we would all choose one or two items to take with us down to Pearl River to Nana's Christmas day, one particularly funny memory was the year I got the ever-desireable Strawberry Shortcake doll and of course I chose to take her with me to Nana's... but OMG, what a mistake... her hair was strawberry shortcake scented, and we all felt SO nauseous by about halfway into the 2 1/2 hour drive, so we drove the rest of the way with her head wedged out the window of the car. We'd rather freeze than die of strawberry shortcake smell. Whewee.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
What truth about Santa? That he's awesome? Or that sometimes he has to come in the front or back door because he doesn't fit down the chimney?... ;)

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
The real question is "do any gifts make it to Christmas morning?"... doh! Ryan and I are major cheaters... we love opening gifts early... sometimes it's hard to even wait till Christmas Eve!!!! Perhaps now that we have a munchkin on the way we can do all our gifts to one another on Christmas Eve and then do his gifts and family gifts on Christmas day or something. ;)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Are we looking for a strategy here? Cuz it ain't pretty. Last year I had a moment of super-strength and became SheRa and somehow moved the tree from the roof of the Acura to our living room without any help from anyone... it was standing in the stand by the time Ryan got home from work. He was stumped. How did you get that IN there?! Anyways... from there, we work the lights on... no real strategy... top down, usually. Then we have a ton of ornaments from my childhoold and some from Ryan's as well that we hang on the tree, and then some that we've collected together over the years. That's about it! Voila! Tree! This year I was planning to hit up the Container Store and get some of those plastic bins that have separate slots for each ornament because right now we have lots of little boxes and lots of tissue paper that we wrap each ornament in and then pack them in bigger boxes from there... quite a mess.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Are you kidding me? I'm dreaming of a White Christmas!!!! Love it! I'm a skier! Bring on the powder days! (Hello, we live in Colorado... if I hated snow I might want to rethink my residence...)

12. Can you ice skate?
Yes, and I love it! But the hubs does not... and it's UGLY. So maybe someday I can take the kiddo out. :) I mean, I'm no Nancy Kerrigan or anything... no flips or spins or anything... just speeding around the rink.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Ryan is the gift-master... he is very creative with gifting... I receive lots of jewerly, but always in a neat way (be it in a blender or worn by a stuffed animal), and one year he got us dancing lessons! THAT was pretty freakin' cool! But my best Christmas gift so far was my dad's successful open-heart surgery back in 1997 over Christmas... and then, after this year, I hope to be able to say that my best was the birth of a healthy baby over the 2009/2010 holiday season :)

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Family and being thankful for all we have and can give to others

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Favorite? Jesus' birthday cake. Mmm. So deliciously green and red. (It's a layer cake made from white cake that you poke holes in while the cake is still in the pans and pour hot green (lime) jello over one cake and hot red (cherry or raspberry) jello over the other and let them set in the fridge... then when you take them out, you simply ice with cool whip or whatever your favorite white frosting is and when you cut into it you get one layer of red and the other of green!)

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
I love that we are now creating our own holiday traditions... and I cannot wait to create some special ones for our growing family. I love the Christmas Elf that comes and leaves little gifts (candy, generally) each day in December for Ryan, though that rite will probably be passed to the kiddo :)

17. What tops your tree?
Well, last year it was a star that was made of wood and fake cranberries that is super-cute, but it was kind of heavy so it was all crooked... so we may need to re-evaluate next year and get something new. But still a star, I would imagine!

18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving?
I love both, I won't lie. I love love love giving gifts, especially when I feel like I've done well in coming up with thoughtful gifts for people... but hey, I won't deny the love of receiving a thoughtful gift either! I love baking Christmas goodies for friends and neighbors as well.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
I don't know that I have a favorite?! I love a lot of them, I am listening to XM Radio's Holiday Classics on my DirecTV right now... I love the classical music of the Moscow Orchestra and the soundtrack of the Nutcracker... I also love caroling, particularly I love singing "Hark the Harold Angels Sing" with a british accent like in one of the 'Christmas Carol' musical movies... :) Get me and my brothers together with my dad and we really belt that one out... it's hilarious.

20. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum?
People don't like Candy Canes? For real? (says the dentist's daughter whose favorite candy is Candy Corn, the world's least favorite candy) Yum. Yum and Yum. And why don't we put one in our egg nog hot cocoa from question number 1 while we're at it?... :)

21. Favorite Christmas Show?
I have 2... I love love love 'A Christmas Carol', especially musical versions... my dad has ALL of them. And then Ryan has taught me to adore 'Christmas Vacation'... priceless. Hilarious.

22. Saddest Christmas Song?
Hmm, not sure? Perhaps 'What Child is This?'... maybe because of the key it's in?

(Can you tell I'm bored at work?)
Happy December! Be good for goodness sake!
*alliwilli